VERY much as expected, the mentor has retaliated to his once protégé who recently challenged past leaders who amassed wealth during their reign to surrender half of what they had gained to poor Malays if they were truly sincere in helping to eradicate poverty within the community.
Claiming that the latter is a past leader who had been accused of helping his cronies, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad remarked yesterday (May 8) that Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim must first declare the wealth that he had accumulated during his tenure as deputy PM (1993-1998).
“Then use your own money to help (deserving) people instead of relying on government’s money,” the elderly statesman who was a two-time PM for a period of 22 years and 22 months penned on his Facebook page.
Since it is assumed that that Anwar who is the current Prime Minister-cum-Finance Minister already has information “about the billions that my family and I’ve looted”, Dr Mahathir said the need for him to declare his wealth no longer arises.
“Apparently, he has many boxes of documents supposedly filled with information pertaining to my wealth.
“Anwar can show the evidence he has on my fortunes at the court. Thus, my declaration of riches shall be known to the world. I don’t need to declare anymore. But Anwar still needs to declare his.”
To re-cap, the world’s oldest serving PM had on May 5 filed a RM150 mil defamation suit against his once disciple – the world’s longest PM-in-waiting (24 years) – by naming the latter as sole defendant for accusing him of being racist and enriching himself and his family members during his 22-year tenure as PM (first premiership stint).
This came about after the 98-year-old politician had demanded the Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairman and PKR president to issue a written apology and hold a special media conference to apologise for making such statement but to no avail.
High Court Judicial Commissioner Jamhirah Ali has fixed May 31 for case management.
To politicise the latest war of words pertaining to the subject of ill-gotten fortunes between the duo which has dragged on for two decades and counting, a political analyst reckoned that Anwar’s call for past leaders to give away half of their wealth to help poor Malays would not douse the sentiments raised in the Malay Proclamation or appease Malay voters.
Instead, Nusantara Academy for Strategic Research senior fellow Dr Azmi Hassan said it was critical for Anwar to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Dr Mahathir did indeed amass ill-gotten wealth during his tenure otherwise his statement will not hold water.
“Anwar needs to prove that Dr Mahathir and former finance minister Tun Daim Zainuddin amassed wealth through illegal means or used their influence when they were in power,” he told the New Straits Times. “Only then the statement made by the PM (Anwar) will make sense.” – May 9, 2023
